Today's businesses are increasingly dependent on software applications. Often, a business wants to ensure that the fluctuating demands of some or all of their applications are met, or that some or all of their applications have high availability. This is especially so in the case of mission-critical applications. To accomplish this, a business may purchase backup (or failover) servers that can be employed to handle the tasks of a failed or otherwise offline server. A business may also purchase an extra server or servers, or one or more servers having the capacity to handle a greater workload than is currently or normally generated by the business. In this manner, a business may react to spikes in application demand (e.g., spikes in web traffic) or plan for business growth.
While various means exist for meeting the fluctuating demands of applications, and for ensuring their high availability, businesses often face the reality of limited information technology (IT) budgets. One means to help reduce the initial investment that a business must expend to meet the fluctuating demands of their applications, or to ensure the high availability of their applications, is “instant capacity” or “capacity on demand”.
Instant capacity models can take various forms, but in one exemplary form enable a user to 1) purchase hardware modules in accord with a first fee structure, and then 2) purchase rights to use the hardware modules in accord with a second fee structure. By separating the rights to have and to use a hardware module, a business can acquire the right to “have” a hardware module at an early date, and at a reduced cost. The business can then acquire a right to use the hardware module at a later date, and for an additional cost. In this manner, the hardware module can be physically readied for deployment prior to when it is needed; and when the business then needs the hardware module, the business does not have to wait for the hardware module to be shipped and/or installed. That is, the business need only acquire a right to use the module (which can often be acquired via a webpage, in the form of a right code). Of note, rights to use a hardware module may take various form, including those of permanent use rights and temporary use rights.